Sir, – Freya McClements (An Irishwoman's Diary, January 4th) outlines the rise and subsequent decline of the shirt-making tradition and industry in Derry, and the huge contribution that the female workforce made to the region. While Derry was always the epicentre of the industry, smaller factories prospered for many years in neighbouring towns, including Strabane, Lifford, Castlefinn and Buncrana.
Your readers will be glad to know that the tradition lives on in the last shirt-making factory in the area in Porters of Strabane.
The discerning shirt-wearer can find their product in Jermyn Street in London or locally in the factory shop in the town.
And, yes, the shirts are still cut and made and stitched and packed individually (and measured and fitted there if you request) by many women whose mothers and grandmothers and even great-grandmothers worked the original Tillie cutting and stitching machines for over a century. – Yours, etc,
Dr PAUL ARMSTRONG,
Lifford, Co Donegal.